A Monumental Discovery
by GoldenHelikaon
Summary: AU. Slash. A cryptex comes into the hands of the Auror department, and with the help of a new junior Sirius, James and their team attempt to crack the codes to find the Holy Grail. A blatant 'The Da Vinci Code' rip-off.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I only own Will Vaver. All HP characters and things belong to JK Rowling, and _The Da Vinci Code_ belongs to Dan Brown.

**Summary:****AU. Slash.** A cryptex comes into the hands of the Auror department, and with the help of a new junior, Sirius, James and their team attempt to crack the codes to find the Holy Grail. _The Da Vinci Code_ rip-off.

**Author's Note:** I wrote this a few months ago while I was in my obsessive all-things-Dan-Brown phase and I watched _The Da Vinci Code_ several times a week. I wanted to play around with my own character, and so I slotted him into this fic. I know Hermione isn't from the same time as Sirius, James, Lily, etc. but I like her too much, that's why I've made her the same age as them. Will is in his early twenties, just you know.

This won't be a very long fic. I have about 19 pages written in Word, and it's close to being finished, so I'll probably just post short chapters.

* * *

**Chapter One**

Young Auror, Will Vaver, was sat minding his own business at his little cubicle in the Auror Headquarters when two of the top Aurors came walking into the department discussing what sounded like putting a team together. One, James Potter, carried a thick wad of parchment and the other, Sirius Black, carried a small cylindrical object.

Will had to do a double take upon seeing the object; a cryptex. He was intrigued; his grandfather had given him loads of cryptexes to riddle into when he was growing up. As he watched out the corner of his eye, he saw Sirius flip the cryptex in his hand, and he couldn't help but speak, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Both Aurors stopped and he was fixed with two unreadable expressions, "Excuse me?" replied Sirius at the interruption.

Will wilted a little in his seat; he was still very young in the game and it wouldn't do to annoy his superiors, "It's a cryptex… You have to be careful with it," he couldn't help but notice both wizards seemed intrigued now.

Sirius was the first to go over to the young Auror's desk; he grabbed a chair from an empty cubicle and sat down, before carefully placing the 'cryptex' on the desk, "You know what it is?" he didn't take notice as James came and sat down next to him. "What is it for?"

Will was feeling a little nervous now, "It's…It's like a secret keeper… It was one of the many designs and inventions of Leonardo Da Vinci. You write the secret on a piece of papyrus paper and wrap it around a thin glass vial, which is filled with vinegar. It's then locked inside the cryptex – may I?" at Sirius's nod he picked the cryptex up and pointed out the dials. "Once it's locked inside, the only way to get into it is to figure out the password using the dials. So, five rows, each with twenty six letters, which is…twelve million possibilities," two pairs of black eyebrows rose. "If you try and force it open it will break the vial inside and the vinegar will dissolve the papyrus…and the secret will be lost forever," it was quite confidence inducing knowing he knew something that the senior Aurors didn't. "Quite smart, really… No amount of magic will get you into it, because it'll only break the vial inside, and as long as you never say the password to anyone, no one will ever know what you're hiding."

Sirius could honestly say this was the first newbie Auror to ever get his full attention; it helped that the young wizard was incredibly attractive as well, with his black hair, dark brown eyes and slender frame, "What's your name?"

"Will… Vaver."

James glanced at Sirius and at the small nod he looked back to the young Auror, "You're on our team, Will."

Will's eyes widened a little at the words, "What?"

Sirius smirked, "Anyone who knows that much about a cryptex needs to be on our team," he could see Will was trying not to look _too_ intrigued. "I take it you've probably used a cryptex before?"

Will nodded, "Yeah… My grandfather used to make them for me…I had to solve his riddles and figure out the password to find my birthday and Christmas presents…"

James grinned; and to think they had had no idea where to start, while their very own prodigy sat doing rudimentary paperwork in the department, "We _definitely_ need you on board, mate."

"But…I've barely finished my training; I _don't know_ the first thing about…_anything."_

Sirius snorted quietly, "You just said your grandfather used to make you cryptexes for fun. _Your brain_ is _exactly_ what we need," he was about to speak again when Moody called for them both. "Meet me in the Leaky Cauldron about eight tonight. I'll explain everything, okay?"

All Will could do was nod dumbly, as Sirius flashed him a smile and got up to follow James. As Will turned his gaze back to his desk, he saw the cryptex still lying there, he looked up to call for Sirius or James but they had both disappeared by now.

Cautiously he picked the cryptex up and examined it. It was exactly like the ones his grandfather used to make for him, but rather larger than his childhood ones.

Aurors only worked on Dark Wizard cases, so it must have been a dark wizard who made this. Why on earth would a dark wizard use a muggle device to hide a secret? It made no sense, whatsoever. Unless it was a dark wizard who _wanted_ the cryptex. But why? What was so important that a dark wizard would want a muggle device with a muggle secret?

This was certainly not what he expected. He had not expected to be hand picked by two of the best Aurors the Ministry of Magic had ever seen to be on their super skilled team. He knew well of the reputations of both Sirius Black and James Potter; they had been best friends through Hogwarts, they were both bright and brilliant; the biggest troublemakers Hogwarts had ever head. They had both risen quickly through the Auror department and were now entrusted with some of the most difficult cases, all of which had been solved to date.

But why did they want this scrawny little newbie on their team? Yes, he was good with solving riddles because his grandfather had brought him up that way, but would that really help them?

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Sirius and Will talk in the Leaky Cauldron.

**Author's Note:** Hopefully this will get me rolling and I'll be able to _finally_ update all my other fics...


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Will Vaver belongs to me. All things _Harry Potter_ and _The Da Vinci Code_ belong to their respective authors.

_**Thank you to my reviewers!**_

**Author's Note:** Now, when I originally wrote this I used all sorts of fancy fonts for Da Vinci's mirror writing and various other things, but doesn't allow that, so it's now just plain font.

* * *

The next afternoon found Will sitting in a small conference room in the Ministry of Magic with Sirius and James, plus the rest of their team, made up of school friends all of whom were exceptionally bright and talented; Remus Lupin, Hermione Granger and Lily Evans. It would be a lie to think he _wasn't_ intimidated by them all. They had all filled him in on their thoughts and how Grindelwald was after what they suspected to be the Holy Grail.

Lily huffed at James's newest suggestion, "No, James… We _can't_ do anything until we've figured this bloody cryptex thing out, even if it was a good suggestion."

Will kept going over and over the words in his head, _the secret hides beneath the rose;_ what the hell did that mean? What rose? How were they supposed to find this secret holding rose? Perhaps the words didn't make as much sense as he originally thought…

But suddenly, almost as though a light bulb had pinged on above his head, Will had an idea.

"What's that box made of?"

Hermione glanced up at the young Auror, "Eh, rosewood, I think we decided. Why?"

Will got to his feet and went back over to the table and sat down; he pulled the box to him and saw the continuation of his idea. Without bothering to say anything to the others, he reached for the nearest pointy object – a quill – and opened the box; he found a small hole on the inside of the lid and pressed the tip of the quill into it.

"What are you doing? Don't destroy it!"

"Ye have little faith," replied Will as a thin piece of wood dislodged on the outer shell of the box; he picked it up and held it up. "A rose."

Sirius grinned, "I told you he was good."

Will smiled in reply to the compliment, "He's after the Grail, yes?" he got a few nods in reply. "The Rose, according to my grandfather, is synonymous with the Grail in the Priory of Sion. It also symbolises secrecy. 'Sub rosa' or 'under the rose'; it was a Roman tradition to hang a rose over a meeting room to indicate that the meeting was confidential," he turned over the rose and saw four lines of engravings on the backside of the wooden rose; it wasn't readable, but he was sure it was text.

**_llorcs_****_ siht seerf modsiw fo drow tneicna nA_**

**_elohw_****_ ylimaf d'rettacs reh peek su spleh dnA_**

**_yek_****_ eht si sralpmet yb desiarp enotsdaeh A_**

**_eeht_****_ ot hturt eht laever lliw hsabta dnA_**

"I can't make it out…" it did look familiar though. "I wonder…" Will looked up. "Does anyone have a mirror?"

Both Lily and Hermione had a quick look through their bags.

Lily pulled a mirror out of her handbag, "Here."

Will smiled as he took it and held it up to the top edge of the wooden rose, "I thought so."

**_An ancient word of wisdom frees this scroll…_**

**_And helps us keep her scatter'd family whole…_**

**_A headstone praised by templars is the key…_**

**_And atbash will reveal the truth to thee_**

"What? What is it?"

Will read aloud what he saw, "An ancient word of wisdom frees this scroll, and helps us keep her scatter'd family whole… A headstone praised by templars is the key, and atbash will reveal the truth to thee…" he looked up at the five puzzled faces. "Da Vinci wrote his journals in a backwards script, it was his way of passing unreadable secret messages."

"An ancient word of wisdom?"

"Atbash?"

Hermione frowned, "Something to do with the Knights Templar, it seems…"

Remus raised his eyebrows a little, "Your grandfather taught you all this?"

Will nodded, "Pretty much… He had loads of books about the Holy Grail and he used to tell me all about it and about his theories."

"What kind of theories?"

"That the Grail isn't really a cup, but a woman," replied Will; he really did love the feeling of knowing more than these people. It was giving him a great deal of confidence. "Mary Magdalene, to be precise. The chalice or 'grail' that carried the sacred, royal bloodline of Jesus Christ – a girl called Sarah, who was born shortly after Mary arrived in France after Jesus's crucifixion. It's also said there were a great deal of documents laid to rest with Mary upon her death. From that day forth, her final resting place was supposed to be a guarded secret, kept by the Priory of Sion. Their symbol was the fleur de lis with a 'PS' in the middle…"

"Ah, I've read about the Priory of Sion," said Hermione after Will's voice had drifted off; she had thought James and Sirius's decision to hire this kid was a bit silly to begin with and she had thought Sirius was just thinking with his dick, but Will had more than proven himself to be a mine of knowledge. "There are supposed to be three Senechaux and one Grand Master, the keeper of the location of the 'keystone'. Leonardo Da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton were supposedly Grand Masters at one time or another."

Will found himself being fixed with five curiously serious gazes, "What?"

"It begs the question as to why your grandfather had the key to this cryptex… The keystone…" Remus spoke slowly as everything fell into place in his head.

Will blinked, "What…you think my grandfather was the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion?" he couldn't keep the slightly hysterical tone out of his voice. "You can't be serious…"

Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly in thought, "It all falls into place, though, Will," there was a definite look of alarm on the kid's face now. "Why else would he have the key? What other reason would he have had to leave those clues before he died? He didn't want the secret to die with him, so he left the clues for someone to find. Someone who can decipher all his messages."

Sirius nodded in agreement with her, "There was another line of text by his body. I didn't show you, because none of us could figure out who it meant," as he spoke, James shuffled through the photos and handed one over to Will.

Will gazed at the photo in front of him; scrawled beneath the anagram were just two underlined words:

_Find William_

"Now we know."

"He must have known that the magical community would get involved; he must have _known_ that this would somehow get to _you."_

Sirius continued on from Hermione's words, "Knowing what we know now, we have reason to believe he was coaching you to be a Senechaux."

_"Me?"_

"You."

Will was confused, "But…I don't know where it is… Wouldn't he have told me if he was coaching me?"

"As I said before," said Hermione. "Why else would he leave the _clues?_ He _wants_ you to find it. He _knew_ you would be able to figure it out."

"'The secret lies beneath the rose'. The rest of us couldn't figure that out, but _you_ could. What's to say you won't figure the rest of his clues out?"

* * *

**Next Chapter:** A continuation of the brain storm. Will figures it out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Will Vaver belongs to me. All things _Harry Potter_ and _The Da Vinci Code_ belong to their respective authors.

* * *

It had taken Will a good couple of hours to get over being told his grandfather was the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion and that he had been trained to be a Senechaux. Did his grandfather really know the location of the Holy Grail? It was definitely starting to look that way.

"'An ancient word of wisdom'?" Remus rested his forehead on his folded arms, so the rest of his words were slightly muffled. "In what language?"

"It has to be five letters, whatever it is…"

"A headstone? What headstone? _Where_ _is it?"_

Will suddenly looked up, "Not _where._ _What."_

"Got an idea?"

"I think so…" Will got to his feet and walked back to the table; he flopped down in a chair, picked up a quill and grabbed a piece of parchment. "I definitely don't think it's a physical headstone. That would be too simple…" he started writing as he spoke. "Have you heard of Baphomet?"

All was silent for a few moments before Hermione spoke, "The Pagan god?"

"Who?"

"During the Inquisition the Church accused the Knights Templar of many heresies, including the worship of 'false gods'. Baphomet was the pagan fertility god," replied Hermione, as she caught onto Will's thought process. Really, this kid was extraordinary.

Will nodded, "A figurative headstone… Well, it _was_ until the Templars made a stone head of the god, which the Church turned into the horned Devil. So, a headstone praised by the Templars."

"Okay, but what does a pagan fertility god have to do with an ancient word for 'wisdom'?"

"Give me a moment," Will continued scribbling down what he was doing. "I present to you the Atbash Cipher."

"'And atbash will reveal the truth to thee'… Will, you're a genius."

On the piece of parchment that Will had just shown them, was what appeared to be an alphabet of some sort.

**A B G D H V Z Ch T Y K L M N S O P Tz Q R Sh Th**

"This is the Roman form of the Hebrew alphabet-"

"Another lesson from your grandfather?"

Will smiled, "Yes," he scribbled something else down on the parchment. "Baphomet is eight characters, but in the formal Hebrew alphabet, the spellings don't include vowels. So writing Baphomet in that form leaves us with-"

"Five letters."

There on the parchment were five Roman-Hebrew letters:

**BaPVoMeTh**

**BPVMTh**

"Does that mean 'wisdom'?"

"No, it doesn't," replied Will. _"But…_ Hebrew is normally written in the opposite direction, and we can use Atbash in the same way. We have to rewrite the entire alphabet in reverse order, opposite the original alphabet."

"If you say so."

Will grinned, but didn't say anything as he began to reverse the alphabet with a little mirror substitution trick his grandfather had taught him.

**A B G D H V Z Ch T Y K**

**Th Sh R Q Tz P O S N M L**

"So, substituting each letter, we get…"

**Sh****-V-P-Y-A**

"And that means?"

Will grinned, "It means 'wisdom'. 'Sh' is pronounced as an 'S', 'P' is pronounced as a 'ph' and the 'V' is pronounced as an 'O'."

"Sophia?"

"But 'Sophia' has six letters."

"An _ancient_ word for 'wisdom'," said Will, an almost maddening glint in his eyes now that they were getting closer to the discovering the secret. "In ancient Greek, Sophia was spelt with an 'F'."

**S-O-F-I-A**

"Were you in Ravenclaw, by any chance?"

"I was. Either that or Slytherin, but I don't like snakes."

Lily carefully pushed the cryptex across the table to Will, "By rights it's yours. You open it."

Will carefully took the cryptex in hand and started turning the dials; once he had spelled out SOFIA, he made sure all the letters were lined up precisely. If they weren't when he pulled, it could still smash the vinegar vial inside.

The others in the room watched with bated breath as Will slid the middle of the cryptex out of the outer tubing, and inside, just as Will had predicted the night before, was a smaller cryptex and a piece of papyrus paper.

Will unrolled the papyrus scroll and read it aloud, "In London lies a knight a Pope interred…his labour's fruit a holy wrath incurred… You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb…it speaks of rosy flesh and seeded womb…"

"I take it we're looking for a tomb then…"

"Interred by a Pope… Westminster Abbey, maybe?"

Will shrugged, "It's probably not that easy."

"No, it probably isn't."

"We should still try Westminster tomorrow though. See if we can pick up a clue or two or three…"

Sirius yawned and stretched, "I think we should sleep…" he trailed off into another yawn; he then rubbed his eyes before focussing them on Will. "Especially _you._ Isn't your brain close to exploding yet?"

Will grinned, "This kind of thing makes me happy."

"You're a strange little boy, Vaver."

Sirius and Will were the last to leave the conference room that night; the younger of the two carrying the smaller cryptexes and the new piece of papyrus.

"Are you okay?"

Will glanced at the Auror walking beside him, "Yeah… A bit overwhelmed… I mean, how often do you find yourself on a Grail quest?" Sirius snorted. "I guess it's what he wanted though…"

"It seems so."

The ministry felt so huge when it was empty; it was quite daunting.

"I hadn't spoken to him for a few weeks before he died…" said Will, before he really knew what he was doing; it just felt to him like Sirius would be willing to listen. "We got into an argument because he wouldn't tell me about my family. I've been asking since I was a kid, but he always said he would only tell me when he thought I was ready to know. I guess I'm still not old enough…and I probably won't ever find out now, anyway."

Sirius frowned a little, "Like Hermione said, maybe he was grooming you for the truth?"

"But what would being a Senechaux have to do with my family?"

"Well, I don't know… Maybe we can look into it after we've solved the Holy Grail mystery?"

* * *

**Next Chapter:** Westminster Abbey and Grindelwald.


End file.
